Brody Judge Read online

  When the ambulance pulled away, she turned and almost bumped into Wiley. “Something I can help you with?”

  “Who is that woman?”

  “I’d like to know that as well.” Deacon’s voice had her and Wiley looking around.

  Etta wasn’t sure how to answer and even if to answer. She was saved from having to by Mathias. “You mean you don’t know?”

  “Why should I?” Deacon asked.

  “Maybe because she’s your daughter.”

  With that, Mathias looked at Etta. “I’m headed for the hospital.”

  “You weren’t given permission to leave.” Deacon said in a gruff tone.

  “Then court marshall me.”

  Everyone watched in shock as Mathias walked away, then Etta turned to Deacon. His face was set in an expression of anger that was barely in control. “You knew?”

  “I did.”

  “And you didn’t think it was worth mentioning?”

  “It wasn’t my truth to tell and she wasn’t ready to tell you.” She then looked at Wiley. “Either of you.”

  “You should have—"

  She cut Deacon off. “No, I shouldn’t. You walked away from her when she was a child.”

  “It wasn’t my choice.”

  “Bull.” Etta glanced at Wiley before continuing. “The two of you abandoned her. Regardless of what happened between you two, or you and her mother, you both walked away from her and left her to live in a hell no child should have to endure.”

  Despite her intention to keep her emotions in check, tears welled up and spilled over. “It was you and her mother and that criminal of a stepfather that broke her—shattered her. You all—" She looked at Mason who had just walked up. “All of you are in part responsible. You broke her and left her alone.

  “And you know what? She’s better than the whole fucking lot of you. She healed Mathias and JJ and now Brody and because of it she may die before any of you get the chance to do what you should do if you have a conscience at all and that’s to beg her forgiveness. Now, if you’ll excuse me. JJ, will you take me to the hospital and don’t you dare ask their permission.”

  He didn’t. He just nodded and took her hand. They walked in silence until they reached her office where her car was parked. “You drive,” she said. “The key is in the console.”

  They got into the car and he started it before reaching to take her hand. “You were pretty rough on them.”

  “I know. They deserved it.”

  “Did they?”

  “Yes, I think so. Look, I love Deacon and you know that. He’s like family to me and until recently I didn’t think I’d met a more honorable man. But what he and Wiley did to Trina—the way they abandoned her without a fight, without trying and—I… I have a tough time with that, JJ. A real tough time.”

  “I know, but before you condemn them, walk a mile in their shoes?”

  She nodded. “You’re right. I’m just emotional right now and maybe tomorrow or the day after or ten minutes from now I’ll want to apologize. But not now, so can we drop it? I just want to make sure she’s okay.”

  “Fine by me.”

  There was silence for a few minutes before JJ spoke up. “What she did? Healing Brody. Did you ever think something like that was possible? I mean, I know what she did for me and God only knows I consider that a miracle. But his back was broken, hon. Broken. How could she possibly have healed him?”

  “God?” She asked.

  JJ shrugged. “Good as an answer as any I guess. I just hope whatever she did, it sticks, and it doesn’t kill her in the bargain.”

  “Me too.” Etta reached for his hand and prayed that when they reached the hospital, it would not be to receive unwelcome news.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Brody looked around as the sounds from outside the small room grew louder, signaling that the door had opened. Etta stood in the doorway.

  “May I enter?”

  “Sure, come on in.”

  She walked over to stand beside him and he looked up at her. “Want my seat?”

  “No thanks. Any change?” She looked at Trina’s still form on the bed.

  “None. I’ve talked until I’ve run out of words. It’s been five days and there’s no change at all. What can we do?”

  “I wish I knew. But that’s not why I’m here. The result of all the tests and scans done on you when you were admitted were turned over to the doctor at the training facility and he did me the service of holding off passing them along to the Navy.”

  “There’s something you’re not saying. Is it bad?”

  “No. Well—I don’t know.”

  “Just spit it out, Doc.”

  She nodded. “It’s amazing to be honest. You broke your back in that fall Brody. By all rights if you survived you should be paralyzed, a paraplegic at the least. But, Trina healed you and I mean healed you. However− “

  “I was afraid there was a but coming.”

  “Yes. There’s evidence that at one time you did suffer a broken back. Not even her skills as a healer could erase every trace.”

  “And?”

  “And it’s enough to have you removed from active duty.”

  “Fuck.” That news carried a punch straight to the gut. Being a SEAL was all he’d known since his twenties. If he couldn’t continue his life as a SEAL what was he supposed to do?

  “Do you want to talk about it?” Etta asked.

  “No, ma’am. Thank you, but no.”

  “Okay, but what about to someone else? Like Mathias. He’s outside.”

  “Does he know?”

  “No, that’s not for me to reveal.”

  Brody considered it for a moment then nodded. “But I don’t want to talk in front of Trina. Could you sit with her for a bit?”

  “I’d be happy to.”

  Brody got up, leaned over to kiss Trina softly and whispered. “I’ll be back in a few minutes, Red. Doc—Etta’s gonna sit with you now.”

  He nodded to Etta then quietly left the room. Sure enough, Mathias was leaning back against the wall beside the door. “Let’s take a walk,” he suggested.

  They left the hospital and walked outside. Brody blinked at the bright light. He’d not been outside the confines of the hospital for five days. Mathias offered him his own sunglasses, but Brody shook his head.

  “How’re you feeling?” Mathias asked.

  “Like nothing happened. At least physically.”

  “And otherwise?”

  Brody was a little embarrassed at the lump that took shape in his throat. “She healed me, man. Gave everything she had to do it and now she’s laying there—not dead, not alive. It kills me to see her that way and know it’s my fault.”

  “But it’s not.” Mathias held up both hands, palms out. “Don’t lose your shit at me, bro, I’m just telling the truth. She knew the risk.”

  “How can you know that?”

  “Because she asked me to help if she didn’t have enough.”

  “Help how?”

  “She took some of my life-force, I guess is the best way to explain it.”

  Brody stopped dead in his tracks. “Are you serious?”

  “Yeah.” Mathias gestured toward a bench that sat in a small garden on the hospital grounds

  “Why?” Brody asked as they took a seat.

  “Why what?”

  “Why would you do that?”

  “Because you’d do it for me.”

  “But why would you let her go that far? Risk so much?”

  “It wasn’t my choice to make. She knew what she was doing. We each made a choice and knew the risk.”

  “Again, why?”

  “For me, I can only say that you’re my brother, my friend. For Trina, that’s for her to answer, but I think you already know. She loves you. Enough to die for you.”

  That did it. It stripped the last of his control, laid him bare to all the emotion he’d tried so hard to run from. “God almighty.” He leaned over with his elbo
ws on his knees and cried into his hands.

  Mathias put a hand on his back but stayed silent until there were no more tears for Brody to shed. “I’m sorry,” he apologized.

  “A man should never apologize for caring,” Mathias said and when Brody looked over at him, added. “I know you love her.”

  “For all the good that does. Look where she is because of me.”

  “You didn’t ask.” Mathias argued.

  “Still the result is the same.”

  “She’ll come back.”

  “You believe that?”

  “I do.”

  “I hope you’re right.”

  “And if I am? What then?”

  Brody shook his head. “I don’t have a clue. Doc told me that all my test results came back. Whatever Trina did, saved me, but there’s evidence that at some point I broke my back. Enough evidence to have me removed from active duty.”

  “What will you do?”

  “I don’t know. I guess I’ll have to figure it out but right now all that matters is Trina. I have to find a way to bring her back.”

  “I think I may be able to help with that.”

  Brody and Mathias looked around at the same time. Wiley covered the last few steps to them as Brody stood. “Help how?”

  “I’m like Trina.”

  “Like her as in you can…?”

  “Yes.”

  Brody looked at Mathias and then back at Wiley. “Etta’s her doctor of record and she hasn’t granted you permission to see Trina.”

  “I know, but she will if you ask.”

  “And why would I do that? Do you have any idea what Trina went through after you turned your back on her?”

  Brody could literally feel the anger roll off Wiley. “I didn’t turn my back on her. I called every week to check on her but never got to speak with her. Her mother assured me Trina was fine.”

  “Only she wasn’t. Her mother stayed drunk all the time, then married someone who made a hobby of sexually abusing Trina.

  “I’ll kill him,” Wiley’s voice was an evil whisper that sent a chill down Brody’s spine.

  “Well, get in line, brother, but that won’t help her here and now.”

  “No, but I can.” His voice softened. “I loved her like my own, Brody. Loved her mom from the first time I saw her. Deac and I—well, we always did like the same things and women were no exception. We both wanted her, and he won. Only he didn’t. His rank was higher and so was his paycheck. She liked that. And she refused to live on a base, which meant she got his pay and my company when I was on leave.

  “I’m not proud of that but I can’t undo it. I can however, help Trina. I know you care about her and I’m glad of that, but I love her too. Have since the day she was born. So, let me help her. Please.”

  There was no way Brody could refuse. He knew the truth when he looked into Wiley’s eyes and no matter what had gone down in the past, he loved Trina and if there was a chance in hell he could help her, Brody was going to make sure that opportunity was made available.

  “Then let’s go.”

  He turned his gaze to Mathias. “If he’s not telling the truth, he’s getting tossed.”

  “You got it.”

  They all made their way back into the hospital and to Trina’s door. Brody opened it and looked in. Etta was standing beside the bed with Deacon.

  “What’s he doing here?” Brody asked as he entered.

  “He’s her father, Brody. I think that earns him the right.”

  “What’re you doing here?” Deacon looked at Wiley.

  “Trying to help.”

  “What do you think you can do?”

  “The same thing Trina did for me.” Brody answered the question.

  “I don’t think I can allow that.”

  “Say what?” Brody blurted.

  “You heard me. She’s my daughter and−“

  “Excuse me, but she’s an adult and you have no say in this. As I understand it and I did ask to have it explained, Etta is the doctor on record and it’s her call. So−" Brody looked at Etta. “Wiley says he has the same ability so let him try.”

  Etta turned her attention to Deacon. “We have to let him try.”

  Deacon didn’t even bother to look at her. His focus was on his brother. “I swear by all that’s holy if you harm her in any way, I’ll kill you.”

  “It was never me who hurt her, Deac and you know I never would, but I hear you.”

  “Stop talking and start doing.” Brody insisted.

  Wiley nodded and walked over to the bed. Etta and Deacon stepped back to make room. Wiley sat down on the edge of the bed and took Trina’s hand in both of his. “Hey, Trina Rose. I know you’re in there, honey, trying to climb out of the dark. Maybe one of the others has you trapped, or maybe you’re scared or weak. Whatever the case, I’m here. So, reach for me, Little Bit. Reach.”

  He closed his eyes and there was total silence in the room. Brody eased over to stand beside Wiley. Seconds turned into minutes and the silence stretched on. He was at the point of letting go of hope when he heard it. A whisper.

  “Wiley?” Her whisper was so soft it was almost inaudible, and Brody wondered if his mind was just playing tricks on him.

  Then her eyelids fluttered, stilled and opened. Her gaze met his and she smiled. It was the most beautiful sight he’d ever seen. Then her gaze slid to Wiley. “Oh Uncle Wiley. Thank you.”

  Wiley raised her hand to kiss the knuckles then released her hand and smiled at her. “You have no clue how glad I am to see and hear you baby girl. I thought I’d lost you again.”

  “You were always here.” She put her hand to her heart. “But I have missed you so much.”

  “And I’ve missed you.”

  She turned her attention to Brody. “You’re okay?”

  “I am.”

  “Thank God.”

  “No, thank you. And you scared the life out of me, Red. Were it not for Wiley…”

  “The others are still with me, Brody. Catherine is hiding because she’s really scared of Sadie who’s horribly mad. Angrier than I’ve ever known her to be and she’s going to get stronger now that she realizes we’re not dead.”

  “Catherine?” Wiley asked. “Who’s Catherine?”

  “Catherine Mermet,” Trina answered. “She’s a personality we created.”

  “We?”

  Deacon’s voice had her head quickly turning. “Dad?”

  He walked over to the bed. “Is that really you, Rosebud?”

  “It is.”

  “You’re all grown up.”

  “And so are you.”

  Deacon smiled, and Wiley chuckled. “Who is this we you referred to?” Deacon asked.

  “Sadie Rockler.”

  “You changed your name to that?” Deacon asked.

  “No. She did.”

  “What exactly does that mean?”

  Trina looked around at everyone and her gaze came to rest on Brody. She held out her hand to him and he quickly circled around the foot of the bed to sit beside her and hold her hand.

  “I feel like I keep telling this over and over, and it’s a tale I hate.”

  “But one I need to hear,” Deacon said.

  “Fine. You and Uncle Wiley were fools. I know that sounds harsh and I don’t mean it as such, but honestly Dad, you both were so taken in. Mom played you against one another from the beginning. She married you because you outranked him, and she knew she could convince you to let her live stateside. You’d be gone a lot and she could do whatever she wanted.

  “And that’s exactly what happened. And she played Uncle Wiley, too. She made him believe that the only reason she was marrying you was because she thought she was pregnant, and by the time she realized she wasn’t it was too late. She said it was him she loved, and she promised to divorce you.”

  Trina shifted and looked at Brody. “Can you help me to sit?”

  “Are you sure you should?”

  “Positive.”
>
  Once she was sitting, she continued. “She played both of you.”

  “How do you know all this?” Wiley asked.

  “Because once Dad walked out and you disappeared, she took to drinking and when she was drunk she talked. A lot. I saw her for who she really was. She didn’t love either of you. Not really. Any more than she loved me. You were just convenient. As long as she got what she needed from you, she was happy. When you stopped giving, well, she took it out on me.”

  “I’m sorry,” Deacon said. “I didn’t realize. She sued for sole custody and won. Every time I tried to see you, you weren’t to be found.”

  “The same happened to me,” Wiley added. “I tried to see you and I left presents for you, but I never heard anything from you or her.”

  “I know. She wanted to punish us all for her unhappiness.”

  “But she remarried.” Deacon pointed out.

  “She did. To a real piece of work. He didn’t just put up with her drinking, he encouraged it. That made it easier for him.”

  “Easier for what?”

  “To abuse me.”

  “I will kill him.”

  “I already claimed that honor,” Wiley said.

  “Neither of you will do any such thing. He’s already dead.”

  Even Brody looked at her in surprise. “You didn’t say he was dead.”

  “I know. But he is. So is my mother.” She resumed her story for her Father and Uncle. “One night he was all set for a new kind of abuse and Sadie came out. She’d been lurking inside me for a while, rising almost to the surface when I needed her the most, but this time she yanked me out of control and down into the darkness and she took charge.

  “She stabbed him, then we ran upstairs, packed everything we could shove into my little suitcase and we ran.”

  “We were entering the second semester of our Freshman year in college when we found out. They were dead. House fire. Apparently, they were both drunk and a kerosene heater caused the fire.”

  “I never heard anything about it.” Deacon said.

  “Why would you? You were no longer married, and they’d moved to a new state.”

  “How did you find out?”

  “Sadie had her ways.”

  “Sounds like this Sadie saved you.”

  “I suppose, but she also kept me prisoner. She changed my name, we graduated college, went to grad school and then to work for the CIA. She was a good operative. She had no conscience, so she could lie at the drop of a hat and she was strong and angry and didn’t mind hurting people.